Saturday, 7 March 2009

Najib: Do not reject blindly

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has called on those who are against the use of English in the teaching Science and Maths in schools not to be overly obsessed with protecting Bahasa Melayu that they reject some aspects of foreign elements that are good for the country.

“Foreign elements” which helped to enrich knowledge, enhance technology and even the local culture should not be pushed aside, he said.

“One has to be rational in choosing and determining what is good and beneficial and not reject globalisation and changes outright."

“While language reflects a race, the ability to speak, read and write in other languages must not be seen as an erosion of one’s intelligence and identity.

“In Malaysia, knowing another language does not mean Bahasa Melayu will be weak and meaningless,” he said at the International Malay Oratory Competition Finals 2009 last night.

Najib stressed that despite the language being relatively young in terms of terminology in science and technology compared to English, it did not mean Bahasa Melayu has been set aside.

He gave the assurance that the Government will continue to be committed in enhancing the importance of the Malay language.

“We will continue to uphold Bahasa Melayu as the premier language of thiscountry.

“Even though we allow room for the English language to exist in the country’s education system, Bahasa Melayu will continue to be the official language of this system,” he said.

Noting that information technology has allowed Bahasa Melayu to exist in cyberspace and gave others the opportunity to learn it, Najib said languageexperts should use the k-economy to gain knowledge.

“Malaysia’s role in the Organisation of Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement must be used to the fullest to introduce Bahasa Melayu to institutions of higher learning of member countries.

“This could be the country’s valuable export as along with the language, comes other knowledge and fields of expertise,” he said. - The Star

Have a Heart: Save IJN

Israel’s assault on Gaza, by air, sea and now land, has killed (at the time of this writing) more than 600 Palestinians, with more than 2,700 injured. Ten Israelis have been killed, three of them Israeli soldiers killed by friendly fire. Beyond the deaths and injuries, the people of Gaza are suffering a dire humanitarian crisis that is dismissed by the Israeli government. There is, however, Israeli opposition to the military assault. Read here...

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Child Safety

Parents, guardians, and adults who care for children face constant challenges when trying to help keep children safer in today's fast-paced world.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) offers easy-to-use safety resources to help address these challenges.
For decades, children were taught to stay away from "strangers." But this concept is difficult for children to grasp and often the perpetrator is someone the child knows.
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Why Hamas is NOT the issue

Mohammed, age six, marched with determination to his bedroom, put on a record of the Fatah marching song, picked up a wooden toy rifle and marched out to the balcony. He pointed the rifle to the sky where minutes ago, Israeli planes flew over dropping bombs on Palestinian refugee sites. Mohammed told me he wanted to be a pilot so he could fight Israeli warplanes. “But Mohammed, the Palestinians do not have planes.” “I don’t care, I will fight them whatever way I can.”Was a resistance fighter born this minute or was he a “future terrorist”? (Beirut 1973)

How does one explain the horrific fate that has befallen caged Gaza – a land saturated with rubble and body parts – carpet-bombed by air, invaded by ground, attacked by sea? Put to the test of history, Israeli “explanations” fail the credibility test. continue here---------------------------------------------Robert Fisk: Leaders lie, civilians die, and lessons of history are ignoredWe've got so used to the carnage of the Middle East that we don't care any more – providing we don't offend the Israelis. It's not clear how many of the Gaza dead are civilians, but the response of the Bush administration, not to mention the pusillanimous reaction of Gordon Brown, reaffirm for Arabs what they have known for decades: however they struggle against their antagonists, the West will take Israel's side. As usual, the bloodbath was the fault of the Arabs – who, as we all know, only understand force. ..Continue here

War on Gaza

Israel's failure to learnBy Nir Rosen (Aljazeera)

When George Bush, the US president, first entered the White House as the commander-in-chief in 2001, Palestinians were being killed in the al-Aqsa intifada.

Eight years later, as Bush prepares to leave office, Israel is carrying out one of the largest massacres in its 60-year occupation of Palestine.

The US, then and now, strongly backs Israel's offensive, justifying it as being, in fact, defensive.To continue read here ...